Intercostal muscle issues and running (Read 1153 times)

I'm not a Dr, I know most of you aren't Drs and don't play them on the TV, or on the internet...but I was wondering if anyone had any experience of intercostal muscle strain.

I'm assuming I've strained an intercostal muscle, based on self-diagnosis and other silliness. I've not had any direct trauma to my chest or ribs. However I was skiing last week and as the week went on I was getting mild twinges in the right hand side of my chest/ribs when I pressed on the buckle on my right ski boot. On Friday I got a very sharp and stabbing pain when I pressed the buckle and for a while after that I couldn't move my arm without pain, especially if it was in any form of pressing motion. It eased off as the day went on, and although it hurt to cough, breathe deeply or move too sharply it was generally manageable. There is/was a tender spot to the touch below the collarbone but above the breast (I guess about half way between the sternum and whatever the side of my body is called).

The last three days the pain has got worse. It's now almost constant awareness and feels like mild cramp across my chest (right hand side) and round to the scapula. However the really annoying bit is I get frequent sharp stabbing pains with various (even very small) movements of the right and sometimes left arms, mild twisting, arching my back slightly, getting dressed, lifting things, reaching downwards, breathing in any manner other than shallow, cycling, opening doors...the usual stuff. All of this seems to be in line with some kind of muscle issue. Running is progressively more painful as time goes on too...I went out this morning but it was pretty intolerable near the end of a very slow 5 miles.

For the tldr, basically what I want to know is, has anyone dealt with intercostal muscle strain? How long did it take to heal, or at least ease enough to be able to move more freely? Is doing painful stuff going to make it worse? Any ideas what I could do to enertain myself as core work, rock climbing, running, biking all cause pain...?

Thanks if you've managed to read through all that!

"Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend."

I got my cornea on a good day, other days it's probably as red as Lucifer's other flip flop.

The 2-3 weeks for a minor strain and 4-6 for the grade 2 was something I'd read and been hoping was wrong. That's a nice little page for internet diagnosing!

The grumpiness has now begun though because everything is even worse today and when I couldn't bend to put my shorts on or put on my sports bra or socks I got banned from running this morning (husbands can be helpful for getting you in your clothes and then into other ones more suitable for work, but not so helpful when they state the obvious and make you feel guilty about doing an activity that you love but is probably causing more pain).

So today I'm not running and am walking to work rather than cycling. Hopefully that will at least give some relief, but I'm seriously concerned about the length of time it could take to be able to do any activity...so many seem to somehow involve those muscles (damn need to breathe probably doesn't help). I've not taken any painkillers for this yet because I prefer to know if something hurts, but I might revert to some doses in case there is inflammation to try and stem. Maybe.

Thoracic Park. Nice. I hope I don't get eaten or have major chest issues when I'm sitting on the toilet.

I work in an orthopaedic centre, so I guess I should accost someone with some medical knowledge. I'm also going to the osteopath tomorrow for a general going over...I currently can't do most of the physio he prescribed for a leg issue that had healed nicely and was letting me run...but maybe he can help on the chest issue and on other options for physio stuff so that my running doesn't suffer from loss of ability to do certain strengthening exercises (in the hope I can return to slow running very soon...I have fingers crossed that I will run again tomorrow, but the sensible bit of me says otherwise).

Thanks again.

"Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend."